heart."

"I wish I had this gift; for my sin makes me very unhappy: I know it
is wrong."

"Do not stop in _wishes_, dear child, go and _pray_;
'_Ask_, and ye shall receive.' 'Open your mouth wide' in the
full utterance of all your distress, and of all you desire; pray for
what you _want, name_ it; pray for _repentance_, and for
_temperance_. Pray that the _lust of your appetite_ may be
_crucified_, and pray that the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God
who taketh away sin, may be sprinkled upon your guilty soul, and
cleanse it from all sin. He giveth liberally, and upbraideth not. He
is angry only when we neglect his promises and his gifts.

"It is not long since, dear Mary, that you and I conversed on this
text, 'My people would not hearken to my voice, Israel would none of
me: _so I gave them up to their own heart's lusts_,' Psa. lxxxi.
A dreadful judgment! what would become of _you_, dear Frances,
if you were given up to the dominion of your appetite?"

"But, my dear mamma," Mary said, "do you not remember the end of
that psalm, what a sweet verse there is?"

"Repeat it, dear girl, and let little Frances hear it!"

"'_Had_ they hearkened and obeyed, then should he have fed them
with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I
have satisfied them.'"